SMS text cleaner
Text pasted from Word, email or a website often hides characters that turn your SMS into Unicode, which can double the cost. Paste it here and get a clean version.
What changed
- Curly double quotes replaced (2)
- Long dash replaced (1)
- Curly single quote replaced (1)
- Ellipsis replaced (1)
Runs in your browser. Your text is never sent anywhere.
Why one character can double the cost
A standard SMS holds 160 characters from the GSM-7 set. If a single character in the message is outside that set, the whole message is sent as Unicode instead, and one part holds only 70 characters. A 100-character message goes from one part to two.
The characters that cause this are often invisible in your editor. Word processors and email apps quietly swap straight quotes for curly ones, turn two hyphens into a long dash, and use a single ellipsis character for three dots. Text copied from websites can carry non-breaking and zero-width spaces.
What the cleaner replaces
- Curly single and double quotes become straight quotes
- Long dashes (the en dash, U+2013, and the em dash, U+2014) become a hyphen
- The ellipsis character (U+2026) becomes three dots
- Non-breaking and special spaces become normal spaces, and invisible zero-width characters are removed
- Bullets become hyphens, and the trademark, registered and copyright signs become (TM), (R) and (C)
- Accented letters that GSM-7 does not include become the plain letter. Letters GSM-7 does include, such as é and ü, are kept
Emoji are not changed. If your message still contains characters outside GSM-7 after cleaning, the tool lists them so you can decide.
Questions about cleaning SMS text
Why would my message be sent as Unicode?
Text copied from Word, email or a website often contains curly quotes, long dashes or invisible spaces. Any one of them makes the whole message Unicode, which cuts it from 160 to 70 characters per part.
What does the cleaner change?
It swaps curly quotes for straight ones, long dashes for hyphens, the ellipsis character for three dots, special spaces for normal spaces, and removes invisible characters. Accented letters that GSM-7 does not include are replaced with the plain letter.
Does it change emoji?
No. Emoji are left as they are and listed, so you can decide whether to keep them.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. The cleaner runs in your browser and your text never leaves your device.
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